


Uncia Uncia

by madwamoose



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Assassin Tony Stark, Assassins & Hitmen, Gen, Tony Stark-centric, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-18 15:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8166550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madwamoose/pseuds/madwamoose
Summary: Tony Stark's parents didn't die when he was 17. They died when he was four years old. He was taken in by someone because he had a 'gift'. Slight AU. Assassin!Tony.





	1. The beginning

iiiiiii

4-year-old Tony Stark was sitting in a chair, hands tied together tightly with rope. He didn't quite know why he was in this position, but he knew that a man in black and a completely red mask came into his house and shot mommy and Father. 

He didn't really mind, he wasn't really raised by them at all. Father was distant and rude, never letting him into the workshop. Mommy barely saw him.

A man walked into the dank room. He was the man who had come into his house. He still had his mask on, which looked less like red and more like horrifying blood. "Hello, young one."

Tony said nothing, and the man chuckled. "You are wise to keep quiet. If the leopard stays silent, it shall receive food." Tony still kept his mouth shut.

The man came closer to the bound boy. "Son, I want you to know I didn't want to kill them. They were good people, but there is something you need to know." The man knelt down to Tony's height. "You have a gift."

Tony must have looked perplexed because the man started explaining. "I work for a special agency. They help get rid of bad people."

"If they get rid of bad people, why did they kill two innocent people?" Tony questioned. The man chuckled. "We had to kill them because they were hiding you. You, Tony, have a special gift only a chosen few have."

Tony wasn't aware of any special powers. He could raise one eyebrow, but that was it. 

"Tell me your name." The man suddenly barked. "Tony." He said quietly. "No, that is not your name. Think. What is your name?"

"Tony!"

"No, it is not!"

"Yes, it is!"

The man took a breath. "Think, boy. Let your mind take over. Now, what is your name?"

Tony was silent, before whispering hoarsely "Aeron"

"Good. Now, I want you to come with me." Tony nodded, and the man unbound him.

iiiiiii

That was six years ago. Since then, Tony was trained to become a cold-blooded killer. There were no other kids he trained with, the trainers said he was just too young and powerful. 

At age five, he could fire a bullet into a man's temple without flinching. At six, he could shoot a bow and throw a knife with deadly accuracy with his eyes duct taped shut. At seven, he could walk so silently no one would know he was there until he was behind them, knife against their jugular. At eight, he could scale any building and was trained in multiple martial arts. At nine, he could beat a person more than twice his age in combat. He was progressing very well, almost too well. The trainers had a bet going around to see if he would be made an assassin at 11.

He found out that the man who killed his parents was called Talutah. He was one of the best assassins in history. 

The masks were granted at the Masking ceremony, which meant you were starting your life as an assassin. For every death, you would spill a drop of the victim's blood on the mask.

There was also another ceremony that took place when the children in training turned ten. They would do something called Shifting. Tony hadn't really thought about it.

It was his tenth birthday. There were only two other kids who would do the ceremony with him.

One was a girl named Marla. She had freckles and a mass of red curls. She had a very thick Irish accent but Tony understood her perfectly. Her chosen name was Aella, meaning revenge.

The other was a kid named Maxwell, who named himself Wayra. He was a very tall albino, but there was a potion they gave him so he wouldn't be burned by the sun.

He was a bit nervous for the ceremony. He knew that the ceremony could change your life, so it was normal to have jitters.

Talutah came into the room where Tony was waiting. "It's time." He leads Tony and the other children through a labyrinth. Several times Talutah had to disable arrows and bullets.

Tony had never had the honor to meet the Alpha. It was very rarely that you would go to meet him. He didn't know the Alpha was a wolf. A humongous timber wolf, far too big to be a regular one. His eyes were a gold color, piercing everything they glared at.

"Aella." A man called out, and Marla nervously made her way before the Alpha.

He stared at her and yelled something in Latin. Marla looked shocked for a minute before something strange happened. She grew smaller, her bone structure changing, fur sprouting all over her body. She had changed into an Irish Wolfhound.

The Alpha said something again in Latin, and Marla responded in the same tongue. They spoke for a moment before she shifted back into a very frightened human girl. She tiptoed to the sidelines.

Next was Maxwell. He shifted into a wolverine, also an albino, which the Alpha approved of as well. 

Tony suddenly realized it was his turn. He stood up and walked stiffly to the middle of the room. Eyes were on him. He stared right into the Alpha's eyes. The Alpha yelled the same word, and Tony concentrated on that word.

The feeling was weird, like cracking a knuckle. He could feel himself growing smaller, yet furrier. He grew a long tail. His ears were now pointed. He had four legs and big paws. His pelt was gray and white with spots. He realized he had shifted into no other but a Snow Leopard.

The Alpha stared at him. Tony looked anywhere but the Alpha's eyes this time. It was the tradition not to. It indicated a challenge.

"A snow leopard." The Alpha mused. Tony realized that he could understand the Latin he was speaking. "Fast, agile, deadly, and sure-footed. Perfect for a high ranked assassin."

Tony said nothing. He knew that the Alpha was going to continue.

"Aeron, you may join our group a week before your eleventh birthday. Do you accept?"

"I do." The words were on his tongue before he realized. He knew this was a great feat. He could feel the shocked gazes the others were giving him. 

"You may leave." Tony shifted, and silently made his way out of the room and back to his room.

iiiiiii

Talutah trained him when he wasn't on missions. He started to teach him how to control his animal form. Talutah himself was a golden eagle, but he taught Tony perfectly in how to tread silently, as well as kill. Talutah would often chase Tony, trying to swoop down and grab him but Tony was always too fast.

Almost too quickly, the time came for him to become a full assassin. He knew that others didn't become one until they were at least 16, but he was almost 11. 

He was in his room, pondering when Talutah came for him. They silently made their way down the mazes that Tony had memorized. "Aeron," Talutah said suddenly. "You do know how dangerous this is, right?" Tony nodded. "Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Tony nodded again. Talutah smiled. "After all these years and you still don't talk much."

Right before they went through the doors, Talutah put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Prepare yourself." Tony took a breath and opened the door.

iiiiiii


	2. Start of Assassinhood

The room was dimly lit, but Tony had eyes as sharp as an eagle, even if he was part feline. 

The Alpha was in his human form, which was a man in his late thirties. Black hair, blue eyes, very cold expression. His features were sharp.

"Aeron, if you are to join us, you will have to have a mark." The Alpha said gruffly. "Where will it be?"

Tony thought long and hard, before answering. "My back. It is the easiest to hide under clothes." The Alpha nodded his approval. "Very good. Many decide the face would be honorable, but the back is humble. Gudbrand, come forward." A man walked up close to Tony, with a knife in his hand. So this is what the marking is.

Tony pulled off his shirt, pointing to the spot where he wanted the scar. He waited for a second before the blade sliced into his skin. 

It hurt. A lot. Tony kept silent, though. His heart pounded in his ears, so did his blood. It was roaring louder than any lion.

He stood there for an hour. He had read up on the ceremony, and he knew he would have to stand until the wound no longer bled, which might sound dangerous, but it was all fine. 

Once it was finished, Tony was slightly dizzy, but he managed to put his shirt back on and turned around to face the Alpha.

The Alpha looked almost... thoughtful. "Aeron, you have proven yourself worthy."

Tony stepped forward. The Alpha had a plain white mask in his hands. Tony knelt, and the Alpha towered over him.

"Do you, Aeron, Uncia Uncia, take your oath to serve the pack and to rid the world of every horrible person?"

"I do." The mask was suddenly on his face. Tony didn't panic. "You are now one of us. Come here tomorrow. You will meet your new partner."

iiiiiii

The next day, Tony's back was killing him, but he got up and went back to the room. Inside, there was a woman waiting inside. She was young, in her twenties, Asian, with hair that gleamed and eyes that could cut diamonds. 

"Hello, Aeron. I am Chiyoko. We will be partners for the next six months. We will be practicing fighting today, and next week, you shall choose your weapons." Tony nodded. Chiyoko seemed pleased. 

"You shall show me your talent, so we can see what you need the most training in.

Turns out, Tony didn't need much training. He was flawless with guns and bow, more than phenomenal with swords and katanas, and was stunning with hand to hand combat. He was an excellent gymnast and quiet as a shadow. He did prefer knives. You could throw 'em or use 'em.

"Okay, let me try something else," Yoko said, before shifting into a leopard. An amur leopard, no less. She was large, around eight and a half feet from tail to nose. Muscular, too. 

Tony himself shifted into his smaller leopard form. He knew he could not win by brute strength, so he would have to tire her out first by dodging a lot, and then near the end, he could land a few hard hits.

She charged, and he moved out of the way gracefully. She swiped her paw at him, but it missed. Chiyoko growled before pouncing on him, in which he avoided.

After roughly ten minutes, he could tell his partner was getting slow. He managed to hit her twice before she stopped and shifted back into her human form.

"You are very good, Aeron. Your form is perfect, and your hits have hidden power. If you want, you and I could do a mission on Saturday."

That was two days away. He just had to wait two days. "What's the mission?" He asked. "We have to kill a rapist. He's violated, killed, and beat up numerous women. We'll be going to Detroit." 

iiiiiii

Detroit wasn't very nice. Well, Tony was seeing the slums of it, so he maybe he was a bit biased. It was slightly nippy, but Tony was built for the cold. 

He was supposed to choose weapons, but Chiyoko limited him to one weapon, a knife, for this one. She wanted to see how he would kill the dude.

The guy, Norman Freelance, was currently living in an abandoned area near the slums. He was holding a girl hostage. Tony's job was to kill the man. Once he had done so, he could drip a drop of the man's blood on his mask.

Next to him, his partner, Chiyoko, was shivering. Her leopard form liked the heat, not the cold.

Finally, they had reached the building. He could hear the helpless cries of a girl, and his stomach turned. He hated it.

The only entrance was a slight hole in the wall. Tony shifted, went through it, and shifted back.

He could barely look at the scene in front of him, but he managed to. He wanted to make Norman's death the most painful thing he's ever felt.

Tony grabbed on of his many knives and through on with deadly accuracy at the man's shoulder. He cried out, and the girl struggled free of his grasp. Tony let her run for now. He knew Chiyoko was going to grab her hand put a mind spell on her so she wouldn't remember the murder.

The guy had simple brown hair and eyes. A freckle on his cheek. Rotten teeth. 

Tony looked at him in disgust, before ripping the knife out of Norman's shoulder. He yelped.

Tony then stuck his knife into the guy's heart, and then pulled it out. Norman couldn't scream, probably it reached the pain limit for shouting out.

Tony slit the man's throat, before whispering, "I am the battle, the battle to destroy and kill every bad man on earth. You, Norman Freelance, have experienced Aeron." Norman gurgled before going silent.

Tony put his finger in the blood, before dropping it randomly on his mask. When he looked afterward, he realized it was on the forehead, almost looking like a bullet shot.

iiiiiii

The next six months went by very quickly. His chosen weapons were throwing knives, twin katanas, a bow, and a gun. He had made all of them except for the knives, they were a gift from Talutah.

While Tony was learning combat, he was also learning math, English, science, and other various languages, like French, Spanish, Russian, mandarin, and latin. He was a genius, anyone could see that. He was close to finishing high school education, and he was eleven. 

He made the katanas out of adamantine. Talutah smuggled him some of it, and it was the same used for Wolverine's claws, which were fascinating. They had grips that indented with his fingers, so no one else could use them.

The bow was a recurve, and it was very fun to make the arrows. He currently had poisonous, acidic, and blow up ones, as well as normal.

The gun was simple enough, a pistol slightly smaller than a 500 magnum. It was silent, a new thing Tony worked on, and the bullets were the same as the arrows. Blow up, acidic, normal, and poisonous.

Tony continued to go on missions with Chiyoko. They were good partners. Tony was strong and smart, Chiyoko was more headstrong. She specialized in guns. He specialized in blades. Together, they had killed over 50 people. Tony's mask had gotten much redder. Tomorrow, the six months would be up.

"Aeron," Yoko said. "You will be working with a man called Ohanzee for one year. He has been an assassin almost a decade. He can be quite irritable, but he is strong. I hope the best for you."

"I hope the best for you as well, Chiyoko."

iiiiiii

Tony entered the training room the next day. A guy was punching the crap out of a poor sand bag.

"Dude, I think he's had enough," Tony commented, and the man turned around. His hair was scruffy, his eyes were a vibrant green, and he was strongly built. Maybe late 20's.

"You're my new partner?" Ohanzee sounded disgusted. "Yes. Have a problem with that?" Tony replied.

Ohanzee wiped the look off his face. "No." He muttered. 

"Wanna spar?" Tony asked after a minute of silence. Ohanzee chuckled. "Sure. Human or animal?"

"Animal."

Ohanzee shifted into a Siberian tiger. Joy, Tony thought as he shifted into his form. More cats. 

Let's say the fight was not pretty. Ohanzee had one cracked rib, a bloody nose, and a pretty bad gash on his back, and Tony had a cut on his chest, but when they stopped, they both laughed for hours. Maybe it was exhaustion, Tony didn't really know. He didn't care, either

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this! Thanks to sophianna22 for commenting, and for everyone else who left kudos! You guys are so nice! Next chapter will be up sometime next week. You can tell me what to do for the time to come! Hope you enjoyed!


	3. New Acquaintances and/or New Friends?

Tony had finished working with Ohanzee and had gotten a new partner for six months. Her name was Libitina, who could shift into a black mamba. They worked well together, even though she was recently made an assassin.

By the time Tony had finished with her, the Alpha had declared him a solo assassin. He did work much better alone.

Over the next two years, his mask became more and more speckled with blood. He killed abusers, murderers, rapists, terrorists, and threats to anyone. 

He was now 16 and finished his college education. There was a former assassin who worked at MIT, who taught Tony everything he needed to know, from history to mechanics.

One day, before he was going to set off to kill a man who planned to place bombs in Chicago, he quite literally ran into an old friend.

He was walking one way, the man the other, and they just kinda bumped. Neither of them fell to the ground, but when their eyes met, they knew each other immediately.

"Talutah!" He gave his old friend a hug. Talutah joined in, hugging Tony hard. 

"Aeron, my leopard. How have you been?"

They chatted for a few minutes before Talutah went all serious. "I had to collect you." He said. "We have to make an agreement with SHIELD. The Alpha wants you and me to go."

Tony was shocked. Sure, Talutah was understandable, but why did the Alpha pick Tony?

"Yeah, sure." Tony managed to say. Talutah grinned. "Okay. You'll be able to fly a small plane, right? I'm flying."

The two made it to SHIELD, which was a floating thingie. They wore their masks and ignored the gazes of naive SHIELD agents as they were lead to a room.

A dark man wearing all black and an eyepatch was standing in the room. So were two agents. One was a guy, standard height, maybe mid 20's. Dirty blond hair and laughing eyes. The lady standing next to him was Russian, with red hair and a cold demeanor.

"Hello. Your names are?" The eyepatch guy trailed off. 

"The only people besides my colleagues that know my name are dead," Tony said coldly. "I'm not prepared to share it with you quite yet," Talutah had said one thing to him before they walked into SHIELD Headquarters. Never trust SHIELD.

The guy stiffened slightly, but Tony was trained to recognize everything. "My friend here is very cautious. Our codenames are Goldie and Snowflake." Tony almost sputtered at the name. Snowflake? Sure, he was a winter animal, but he wasn't some goddamn piece of crystalized ice.

"I have heard the codename, Goldie, before. You are Talutah, are you not?" The woman said, and Talutah grinned. "Should have known it was you, Natalia."

"I do not recognize Snowflake, though."

"He is new to our system."

"His mask looks almost as full as yours."

"He's a very good student."

"Are we gonna sign or not?" The director asked, and they stopped talking. Talutah signed everything, while Tony glared at the two agents through his mask. He didn't trust them.

"Thank you, Talutah and... Snowflake. Before you go, I have a small favor to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"I would like you to stay the day here, and battle some of our best."

Tony nodded. He was sure he could take Barton, but Romanoff was different. 

iiiiiii

Tony was in the ring, facing Clint Barton. He seemed good enough. Clint had fought Talutah and it was a tie.

"Any rules?" Tony asked. "Yeah, don't turn into a snowflake." Clint snarked, and Tony bit back a growl.

Clint started it off with a punch to the jaw, but Tony dodged, fast as lightning, and kicked Clint in the stomach. Clint gasped, winded, and Tony hit him two more times.

Clint held a hand up. "Stop." Natasha on the sidelines looked shocked at how easily Tony had beat her colleague.

"How old are you?" She asks, narrowing her eyes. 

"Why does that concern you?" Natasha continued glaring at him. "I'm 16."

Clint made a funny noise like he was being strangled. "I got beaten by a kid?"

"Let me try," Nat demanded and walked onto the ring. Tony turned towards her, fists up. 

Her fighting technique was more defensive and fast, didn't hit often but when she did it sure was hard.

Tony managed to adapt to her technique very quickly, and swiped her off her feet, punching her in the jaw at the same time. She was up in a flash, jumping on top of him but he struggled out of her grasp with a few good kicks.

The fight lasted a bit longer than Clint's, around five minutes. Tony won.

"What age did they take you in?" Natasha asked, grabbing two glasses of water and a Gatorade, tossing the energy drink to Clint.

"4." Clint choked on his Gatorade, and Natasha had to pound his back.

"Fucking 4? Jesus, snowflake, why would your parents let their child go?"

"They're dead." Tony didn't feel anything when he said that. He didn't know them enough, and even then, they were horrible parents. 

The two assassins of SHIELD didn't say anything for a while, they just sipped their drinks.

"You know what, call me my birth name, Tony," Tony said. He already told them so much, besides, he had warmed up to them. 

"Okay, Tony."

iiiiiii

The next time their paths crossed was for a serious meeting. The Alpha needed to speak with SHIELD and picked three people to go with him. Talutah, some guy named Sloan, and Tony himself.

When he walked behind his Alpha into the conference room, he was slightly surprised that Natasha and Clint were in there, along with some guy named Agent Coulson and Fury.

"We have run into an agent of yours who was killing innocent people. A mother and father of a child of eight."

"That is how we recruit." The Alpha growled, and only Fury and Coulson looked horrified. Natasha and Clint already knew the horrors of murder, so they didn't let it show.

"And how young have you ever recruited?" Fury snarled back.

"Our second best of all time was recruited at the age of four." Coulson looked stricken. Tony also was a bit shocked. Was he really the second best of all time, and was he the youngest ever recruit?

"But they are just children! Where is that assassin now? Does he have no social skills and no ability to care for anyone?" The Agent yelled. Tony bristled at that. 

"That assassin is standing in this room." The Alpha said in a deadly calm voice. "He is one of my preferred for missions and goes under the name Snowflake for SHIELD. Our people do have a family, we care for them personally. When one of us passes, we mourn for several days. We help someone up when they fall. If you do not like the way we act, then consider yourselves an enemy to us, not a friend."

Was Tony really one of the Alpha's preferred? He didn't know. He could be joking.

"We do like the way you act in times of trouble." Fury saved. "Your assassins are very well trained, and they are phenomenal both in and out of battle. I am sorry for Agent Coulson's overreaction, I will chat with him later."

"Very well. This concludes our meeting, does it not? I want Agent Romanoff and Agent Barton to help out Snowflake here," The Alpha motioned to Tony "On a mission in the Himalayas. On one of the mountains, Makalu, there is a dangerous terrorist organization hiding out near the base of the mountain. As the nickname suggests, Snowflake handles the cold very well, but I hope that your Agents could get used to the cold."

Fury nods. "As long as my Agents agree." He turns over to Clint and Natasha.

"I'm in," Clint replied, his eyes twinkling dangerously. "As long as I can bring my bow."

"Sure," Natasha said. 

"Great." The Alpha was grinning on the inside, Tony could tell. "Have them meet Snowflake at the mountain in two days."

iiiiiii

Tony was all packed and at Makalu. He had said goodbye to Talutah and was currently looking around at the mountain.

Finally, one of those miniature Quinjets arrived. Two figures walked out before the Quinjet flew away.

Clint and Natasha approached him. "Okay, so we have to climb approximately 80 feet up and go to the other side of the mountain. It should take roughly three days." Tony had done the math when he was waiting.

"Should we climb up first and then go to the other side?" Clint suggested. "They won't be able to spot us, because if we climb up after, they have the higher ground."

"That sounds good. Maybe, instead, we could walk around halfway, then go up." Tony added, and Clint nodded. "That sounds good. Let's get these motherfuckers."


	4. A nice day of kicking ass (plus recruiting and teaching)

They spent the next three days busily climbing. It was laborious, but as they were assassins, they were trained to never complain. Tony did not feel the cold, but he knew it was taking a toll on his two friends. Natasha was developing a slight head cold, and Clint's nose was constantly runny.

They were getting very close. At least three hours away. "We should attack at night," Natasha suggested. "They won't be expecting anyone at night." They took her suggestion to heart. They would attack at midnight.

The next three hours were a slightly painful blur, mainly because of how much walking and climbing they did. Finally, they saw a fire.

"Booyah," Clint whispered. Natasha shot him a look, probably internally telling him to shut up.

They snuck closer. Tony wanted to shift into his Snow Leopard form, it was much easier to tread on the unstable snow, but he was unsure of how his companions would react.

'Oh, stop being a baby.' He chided himself and silently shifted. 

Clint's reaction was priceless. he opened his mouth to shout out in surprise, but Natasha covered his mouth. Tony silently padded throughout the snow, creeping closer towards the camp, the two agents following him.

There were two men on guard outside. They were talking together about the plans for the new Harry Potter novel. One was arguing that Harry would kill Voldemort, while the other complained that Albus would kill Voldemort and right before Voldemort dies, he says sorry. Not that bad, actually.

Tony snuck up behind them, shifting back to his human form, his bow ready, and shot both of them deftly. Both fell to the ground.

"You could have left one for me," Clint whispered. Tony shrugged and crept into the cave, using the shadows to his advantage. It was very dimly lit and barely anyone was there. A guard with a scar on his lip occasionally passed him but was too dumb to hear him.

After a while, Tony reached the 'core' of the cave. Many men, around thirty, were talking in Hindi, some Hungarian. Arabic as well. The men were from all over middle east Asia. 

"They have the Stark boy. Stane wants him." "How do we get him? He's under constant surveillance."

Tony knew they were speaking of him. He had figured out himself that he was the young Anthony Stark. He was a genius and loved machines. How similar to Howard could he get? Well, there was the drinking habit the elder man had and how Tony was raised to be an assassin.

Tony gripped his knives. He could sense Natasha and Clint behind him. "Now."

Clint whipped out his bow, Natasha her gun, Tony his knives. Almost as soon as it started, it ended. 

Overall, there were 34 men in the organization. Clint had gotten ten, Natasha got eleven, and Tony got thirteen.

Tony quickly took off his mask, making sure no one could see him before hastily dripping the blood of his slaughtered on the nearly completely red mask.

He put it back on and turned towards the two assassins. "Well, that was fun. Let's kill the guards, set a bomb, and go."

"A bomb is not wise." Natasha narrowed her eyes at him. "Too loud."

"Oh, but this is my invention. This bomb is absolutely silent. It releases a toxic chemical that makes the lungs shrivel up and skin burn upon exposing for even a second. Unless you're wearing plastic. It also breaks down anything manmade," Tony was proud of his little bomb. "So we don't have to destroy the missiles."

"Sweet," Clint said. "Let's destroy the place."

+++

The place was destroyed. No survivors. Talutah had been proud of him for getting along with Nat and Clint.

Now, Tony was 17. His mask had no white gaps now, he was layering. It was bloodier than Tallulah's. 

He was called down to see the Alpha. By now, he was no longer scared. He actually felt comforted in the company of the Alpha.

"Aeron, we have a new recruit. We are not asking for you to do this. Some people do, some don't. You can decide if you don't want to do this again."

Tony contemplated. Recruit ages were usually eight to twelve. He didn't want to kill someone's parents, but it would depend on. "Who's the recruit?"

"Marco Andrasic. He lives in Zagreb, Croatia. His father, Slavko, is a club owner, usually uses women illegally. Trialed last year for rape, but weaseled out of it."

Yep, Tony would take it. "How young is the kid?"

"Marco is nine years old. He is talented in fencing and knows three languages, Croatian, Italian, and French. His older sister is here as well. She would probably take him under her wing."

"I'll take it."

+++

Tony found out he quite liked Zagreb. It was beautiful, history at every building. The only problem was that it was too damn hot. He wasn't built for sand.

The house was a small flat above the club Slavko owned, which was closed tonight. For what reason, Tony didn't know nor care.

He silently snuck into the house and slunk into the study, where the man had fallen asleep on his desk. He was looking at three different women's applications, the papers were still loosely grasped in his hand.

Tony grabbed his knife and sliced the man's throat. He had made sure that no cameras were in the place. 

He wiped the blade, dripped some blood, and moved into the child's room. Marco was sleeping in his bed. He was a cute kid, with fawn colored hair, chocolate eyes, and looked taller than average. 

Tony used special handcuffs. They wouldn't hurt, but they were unbreakable. The kid awoke. His already big eyes widened. 

"Mister, why are you in my house?" He sounded so innocent it nearly broke his heart. He was speaking his original tongue.

"Listen to me, kid. What you are about to hear is very important. You can disagree or agree. This is a chance of a lifetime, but it's not the easiest. You can become an assassin." Tony said in the same language.

"What if I say no?" The kid asked. 

"You would have no memory of this, and you'll go live with your aunt."

The kid was thinking. His eyes were calculating if he should trust Tony. "I want a name." Marco finally answered. "I know the organization you're talking about. You guys have those same masks and you destroy bad guys." Damn, this kid was negotiable.

"My name is none of your concern. It holds too much power. I cannot say it here."

"I'll go." Marco didn't sound defeated. He sounded confident. 

"Great. Let's go."

+++

As soon as he brought Marco to his quarters, Talutah was at his heels. "What do you want?" Tony asked his older best friend. "The newbies have their first session next week. I was hoping you could accompany me. " First recruiting, now teaching? It wouldn't be so bad, would it?

"Fine, I'll do it."

Next Friday, Tony was down in the training room. He was practicing before the children came in. 

He was on the sparring floor, fighting an invisible target. Dodge, swipe right, swipe left, dodge, swipe left, flip. 

He was back on a mission, fighting a masked man. Hit, dodge, swipe right, roll, swipe left again, hit.

Tony was slightly aware of the sweat dripping down his brow, trickling down to his nose, tickling it. He didn't wipe his face, though. He was on the battlefield.

Suddenly, he could feel five pairs of feet walking towards the training room. He shook out of his daze and walked towards the door.

Four children were in the room, along with Talutah. All appeared young, around eight to nine. One was Marco, fidgeting slightly. His eyes were on Tony, questioning. The girl beside him had her blond hair in pigtails, her blue eyes strangely intelligent for a human that young. The two others appeared to be twins. One boy, one girl. Indian background.

"You're down here early," Talutah observed. "I was training," Tony replied, grabbing a water and chugging it. "Like you need the practice," Talutah muttered before turning to the children. "Children, this is my friend, Tony. He is known as Aeron here."

"Is he better than you?" The pigtail girl asked. She spoke in a heavy Swedish accent. The kids were being taught English. The language was imprinted on their brains like they've known it forever.

"Elsa, do not ever ask questions like that. Of course, he's better than me. Now, as I was saying. Tony, meet Elsa, Marco, Hansh, and Riya." 

After the introductions and questions were done, Tony leads the kids to the shooting range. "Today, we will be using guns and bows. I want to see everyone's accuracy. You will be using a simple pistol." Tony demonstrated the weapon, which was as easy as breathing. "Riya, you're up first."

The girl walked up nervously to the pistol Tony held out to her. She assumed a stance, which was rather weak in Tony's opinion, and fired. 

The bullet strayed away from the target, but at least it hit the board. Elsa did a bit better, managing to nick the arm. Marco hit the stomach, and Hansh was really good. He managed to get most of his bullets into the head. He would probably grow up to be a shooter.

At the end, when the kids scurried away, a slight woman came in. "Aeron, Alpha wants to see you," Tony nodded at the lady. "I'll be right there."

Tony quickly got into the Alpha's office. "Aeron, sit. We need to talk."

"What do we need to talk about?"

"About Stane Industries. After your father died, his friend Obadiah Stane took over. We have found out that he is working with terrorists."

The terrorists that he killed a little while ago were talking about Stane. How he wanted Tony found.

"So, I have to kill him?"

"It would be tricky, but you have to. Preferably within the week." Uh. Talk about tough jobs these days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not posting this sooner. I'm the worst. Can't promise a close update, but I'll try.


	5. Killing an idiot who loves PB and J

Tony had later searched up Obadiah Stane. He was the CEO of Stark Industries and close friend/business partner of Howard before he took over after Howard's death. Tony never recalled meeting him, as he was good old dad's work partner, it was odd. Howard probably didn't want Tony 'embarrassing' him.

He made weapons, as Howard did before him. Missiles, guns, even a couple bombs. Dangerous. He had a personal assistant by the name of Joanna Well and worked alone. Not very smart, he relied on old ideas and papers of Howard's. Massively popular, so if he were to murder him, it would be well known. He could get caught easily. Poison would be the best way to kill him.

Tony had made three different poisons in his stay. One was called Lethal Disaster. It ate you from the inside out, keeping you alive until the particles attacked your heart. He wanted something natural, like a heart attack. Not an eaten heart. 

Luckily, he did have one that made it seem like a heart attack. It was called simply Death. It had a delayed effect. It would do. He would go tomorrow. Pose as a chef, poison the food, and leave. Perfecto. 

+++

Getting the interview was easy. Easier than defeating a newbie. The guy fired the chefs every other week. Tony was currently sitting in the waiting room, three others sitting with him.

One was a meek looking girl, around 25, with mousy hair and a plain face. She had worn hands and kept tapping her foot. Another was a fat man who had no hair and wore a too tight shirt and pants that barely did up. The last was a French man, around 30, with a mustache and goatee. His hair was slicked and his fingers delicate. Shoes were black and shiny, and outfit polished. 

Tony was wearing one of the many masks that he had made to go out in public in. The one he had picked made his nose hooked, his eyes green, a few wrinkles to make him appear older, and his lips very thin. His hair had been dyed to a lighter brown and the fingerprints had changed completely, from the simple arches to whorls. He wore lifts to make his 5'8 frame a 5'11, which were quite uncomfortable. Tony wore some jeans, a thin black coat to hide his muscular body, and boots. 

A woman, who Tony knew was Joanna Well, peeked out of the door. She was all curves and legs and beautiful. Blond hair, brown eyes, big chest, she was any man's dream. Except Tony's. He actually preferred strawberry blonds over stupid dyed platinum. And he liked business suits over the tight black mini dress. "Kris, Mr. Stane will see you now." The timid girl stood up and went inside. Five minutes later, she came out crying. Poor thing. 

Next was Jaques, the french dude who Tony doubted was his real name. Not all french men were named Jaques and Pierre. He was not chosen as well. The fat guy, who was by the name of Norm, went in, only to come out just as quickly.

Joanna stuck her fake blond head out again. "Liam?" Tony stood up and went into Mr. Stane's office. 

The office was massive. There was a kitchen on the side, filled with food, cooking tools, and tears from former people. Mr. Stane, or Obadiah, sat at a desk, looking slightly bored.

"You are Liam Robinson, I presume?" Obadiah said. His voice was awful, Tony wanted to shrivel and die just thinking about it. "You presume correctly," Tony said in a slight British accent. 

"Tell me about your cooking background." Obi crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "I grew up cooking when I was a kid, learning from my father. When I was eighteen, I left England to come to the United States. I took it upon myself to learn more dishes at Culinary School, and when I was 26, I was hired to be a chef in a Gordon Ramsey restaurant. I stayed there until three years ago." Tony had crafted his backstory well. He even had tricked Gordon into thinking 'Liam' had worked there.

"Why did you leave?"

"I decided to travel. I had the same job for eight years. It eventually grows to tire."

"What makes you think this won't happen with me?"

"You are a remarkable man. Always full of surprises." Tony said this with ease, even though it hurt to say so. "You change, unlike a simple restaurant." 

"Show me what you can cook up. A minute." Tony made his way to the kitchen and looked over the supplies. "Which items shall I use?" 

Obadiah smiled. "I like you. Peanut butter."

PB and J came to Tony's mind instantly. He grabbed some expensive bread, organic strawberry jelly, and the peanut butter. He quickly spread it, evenly with not too much, not too little. His assassin abilities allowed him to finish this with seconds to spare. He brought the plate over to the impressed Obi. The man took a bite, and instantly called out "JO!"

The woman ran into the room."Yes, sir?" "Taste this. Tell me this is not the best PB and J you have ever had." He gave the sandwich to her, she took a bite. Joanna nodded. "Very good sir." Obie had turned her into a mindless slave. Tony would have to let her go and give her a good job later. She didn't deserve this. No one did.

Tony had to clench his hands to keep from either punching the man or shifting. "Well, you're hired. You start now." 

+++

The first day was hard. No kidding. This man ate like there was no tomorrow and was very picky. Tony made sure to ask him what he wanted or else he might get fired. By the time the third day rolled around, he was ready.

"What would you like?" It was lunchtime, and Obadiah had been out for meetings almost the entire morning. "Something with mustard and olives." Tony went and made a sandwich. He retrieved the bread, olives, mustard, cheese, onions, and roast beef from last night. Tony had disabled the cameras in the room over four days ago. He brought out the poison and injected it into the beef. It soaked in perfectly. He brought the sandwich to the man and left without a word like he usually did.

Obadiah died three hours later, in a board meeting. It was all over the news. STANE DEAD. WHO WILL TAKE OVER STARK INDRUSTIES? Tony made sure Jo was given a secretary job at an Apple building before leaving. Right before he left, he was sure to sneak into the hospital room and grab a vial of the man's blood. This would be a good addition to his mask.

+++

"The mission is complete," Tony said over dinner to the Alpha. "No evidence. I checked over two dozen times."

Alpha grinned. "Thank god. You don't have any crucial missions at the moment, but next week we have another meeting with SHIELD. They want to evaluate some of our members, and I was hoping you and Talutah will join me."

Tony nodded. "Of course. I'll be ready."

Over the next four days, he killed an entire gang in Moscow and a bank robber in Shanghai. He was about to take another when he got a call. "State your name, codename, and super codename." He growled into the phone.

"No need to be on edge." Talutah. "You gonna be here tomorrow to teach the kids hand to hand combat?" Tony thought of Marco. "Of course. I'm on my way." He wasn't going to Brazil after all.

When he got back to the base, Talutah was waiting in the training room, along with the kids. "Finally, the oh great and powerful assassin graces us with his presence," Talutah said with a shit eating grin, and Tony smacked the man's arm. "I was on my way to Brazil, you know."

"Yadda yadda. Show the kids how it's done." Tony turned towards the children, who were watching the argument with fascination. "I'm going to fight Talutah here. You are going to watch us, and after Talutah is almost unconscious, you are going to tell me what you saw." Talutah sputtered, but the kids looked very interested. "Come on, goldie. Scared?" Tony knew that Talutah hated being taunted. "Fine." The older man bit out. 

They got onto the mat and Talutah made the first move. An uppercut, but Tony managed to grab the arm and hyperextended the elbow. Talutah hissed and tried to pull back, but Tony kicked the man's leg. Talutah stumbled and Tony forced his small yet muscular body onto the taller man. He fell over with a crash, Tony pinning him down. "You've gotten even better, young one." Talutah chuckled. Tony helped him up.

Tony looked over to the impressed children. "Marco, what did you notice?" Marco didn't even flinch. "Your footing. It was wide, but not too wide. It supported your movements and kept you on your feet, and let you make Talutah fall." Tony was slightly impressed. "Very good. Elsa?"

"You pulled on his arm. The elbow is one of the weakest spots in the body and when hit, hurts a lot. Judging on how he winced, he probably had a former injury there." Yes. Berlin 1989. "Good observation. Hansh?" 

"The way you kicked his leg. It was a harsh kick to the shin, but you kicked it like a soccer ball. It wouldn't break your foot, but it would sting for Talutah." These kids were getting better and better. "Excellent. Riya, care to give me an evaluation?"

"You suspected his uppercut movement. You knew he was going to attack first, so you didn't bother to hit. Your strategy is a very good one. You scan for weak spots but never make the first move, because if you do, you have a better chance of being pummeled because you need to adapt to the attacker." Riya said. "You guys are all awesome." Tony replied at the same time Talutah said "Gee, thanks."

"Now, today, we are going to learn different attack strategies. There are two. What are they called, Hansh?"

"Defensive and Offensive," Hansh answered without pause. "Good. I'm going to pair you up. I'm going to give you both a strategy to use. When you defeat your opponent, you are going to switch. I shall determine which strategy is better for you."

"What kind of strategy do you use?" Elsa asked. "I use a mixture of both. Mostly defensive," he answered. "Talutah, as you could see, prefers offensive. We've battled so many times that I can easily suspect his movements." Talutah made a face at him and snapped playfully with "I've never felt so loved."

"Don't be crabby, old man." Talutah sputtered again, but Tony ignored him. "Riya, pair up with Elsa. Marco, Hansh, sit and observe." The children went obediently. "Riya, use offensive. Elsa, defensive. Go."

The girls moved quickly, Riya made the first move, punching Elsa right across the face. Elsa could have dodged. Riya punched the girl again in the gut, and Elsa made no move to defend herself. "Elsa, I'm not letting you out until you block at least four hits." Elsa appeared strained, her pigtails whipping around. She backed up, but Riya moved with her. Riya tried to slap Elsa, but this time Elsa managed to grab the hand, even though Riya quickly shook out of the blonde's grasp. 

The fight went awfully for Elsa. Very badly. She wasn't doing anything. "Enough," Tony shouted and the two separated. "Riya, good job. Elsa, defense is not just about doing nothing. Defense is about defending. You can hit once in a while. Riya, you'll be sticking with an offensive strategy for most of your training, but for this next battle, do defensive. Elsa, offensive. Go."

This fight went much better. Elsa had power behind her hits, even if she didn't hit as often as Tony would have liked. Riya wasn't quite as good using defensive strategy but still knew how to block a hit. In the end, Elsa was on the ground, but she did well. "That was much better." Tony praised her. "Next lesson I have with you, I'm going to teach you defensive strategy. Marco, Hansh, come on up."

The two boys got up from their place on the floor. "Hansh, offensive. Marco, defensive." 

The fight went well. For Marco. Marco knew how to defend himself well. Hansh, as Tony had suspected, was more of a sniper than anything. When the fight had ended, he told them that. Tony looked at his watch."It's almost dinner. Go wash up." Tony told them. The kids ran out. Tony turned to Talutah, who was smiling. "You really are a good teacher." 

"Shut up." They both laughed, and left for the dining room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos. Means a lot to me. Also, sorry for not updating sooner. Maybe I'll update in the first week of December.


	6. Birthday Bashes and Drug Dealers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy fucking hell, it's been a while.

Stark Industries is now in control of a woman named Pepper Potts. She was slowly leeching off the earlier plans, as Obadiah did with Howard's. The woman was ginger, clan in pencil skirts, and actually used her noggin, unlike others (cough Joanna cough). Tony had to appreciate her and so did the assassin community. They stayed away from her. Tony was eating dinner, thinking about that when someone tapped him on the shoulder. Tony instantly assumed a defensive mode but managed to not hit the figure when he realized it was Marco. "What do you need?' Tony asked him kindly. Marco looked nervous. "Um..."

"Spit it out, kiddo. I don't have all night and neither do you."

"My birthday is tonight and I want you to come to my party." Tony blinked once. He never celebrated birthdays but only Talutah knew that. He never knew his own, so he had no reason to. "Sure, I'll go. Where is it?" Marco looked excited. "It's in my dorm. 1120." 

"Okay, I'll be there." Marco looked excited and ran off, probably to tell his friends.

The party was nice. The kids were running around, playing tag. Seated at one of the tables, casually sipping at a glass of water and peering at the large array of novels was Tony. "You're Aeron." Someone said with awe and Tony turned around to see a girl. She had the same hair and nose as Marco, but her eyes were black. "I am. You must be Suzanna." Tony greeted her. "My assassin name is Xandra." She informed him, but it was a timid reply. She sat down next to him. "Have you had your ceremony yet?" Tony asked. "It's next month," Suzanna said. They sat in silence for a minute before she went off like a rocket. "Is it true that you were brought here when you were four?" 

Tony nodded. "Yes." She gawked. "And that you can beat Talutah in seconds?" Tony held a finger to his lips. "Shhh." They conversed quietly for around half an hour when Marco, Elsa, Hansh and Riya came up to him. "When will I go to the Shifting Ceremony? I'm ten now, so that means I can." Marco asked him impatiently. "Elsa, Riya, Hansh, when will you turn ten?" Tony questioned the younger children. "Next March," Riya declared for the both of them. That means they are turning nine in a month. "In June," Elsa answered promptly. "In June, then. Next year, Riya and Hansh will go through the ceremony themselves." It was February now, which meant in four months. Marco looked a little disappointed but soon brightened up with another idea. "What animal do you think I will be? I know that Suzy is a Honey Badger, so what will I be?" The rest of the kids now had hopeful looks on their little faces. Suzanna smirked at him, knowing how difficult the situation must be. 

"I believe Riya is gonna be a margay and Hansh a cantil. Elsa, you might either be an African wild dog or a Gray wolf. Marco, I have my bets on you to become a Black Mamba. Now, run along before I decide to make training ten times worse." The kids ran away to play their version of 'hide and seek', which included a whole bunch of martial arts and death threats. Aw, the joys of being young.

iiiiiii

After the party, Tony went off to bed. He was simply exhausted, to put it nicely. He collapsed on the bed, but almost immediately his stupid phone rang. "What?' He snapped into the phone. "Remember you have to be up early tomorrow for SHIELD, my leopard." Talutah reminded him before hanging up. Bastard. Tony got a standard 7 and one-quarter hours of sleep before waking up. He fetched his mask and quickly sneaked down to the Alpha's office, where Talutah and the Alpha were waiting. "About time." Talutah grinned at him. "Let's go." They all piled on the jet and went on their merry way over to the Helicarrier, which had taken a good hour. Agent Coulson was waiting for them outside the Helicarrier. "Hello, Agents. Come with me." They followed the suit-clad man into the conference room, where Fury and the assassin twins were waiting. "Morning, Talutah. Alpha. Snowflake." Fury greeted them curtly. "I understand that you agreed to our terms."

"We have," Tony replied coldly. "Good. Now, all you need to do is do a physical test and then you are done." Coulson leads Talutah, Natasha, Clint, and Tony to a room. "This is a simple exercise. You are all given paint guns. There are other SHIELD agents in there. Your goal is to be the last person standing." This would be hilariously easy. These SHIELD agents, sans Natasha and Clint, were babies in catsuits. Tony grabbed one of the simple pistols and his color of choice paintballs, which were gold. What could he say? He liked gold. Talutah prided himself in a bronze, Natasha's was a dark red, and Clint picked up a plum. Why couldn't the twins just pick something bright?

When they started, Tony had easily taken out a dozen newbies and then began to scan for bigger threats. Hawkeye was stalking Talutah, and Talutah was stalking Black Widow, who was stalking Hawkeye. They were leaving him out of all the fun. Tony would pay for that. As soon as the shot came, he brought down Talutah. The man would usually keep quiet, but this time, when he looked down to see his shirt stained in gold, Talutah cursed. Loudly. "You son of a bitch, Star-" He cut himself off. Tony's eyes widened in the dark. "-ly! I thought we formed a truce!" Good. His cover wasn't completely blown. Yet. Natasha took down Clint, which left her, Tony himself, and a couple other newbies hiding in the dark. Natasha took the time to stalk the kids, taking them down one by one. Tony quickly got on her trail. He got an opening and shot her in the middle of the chest. She looked down at the gold paint on her black suit and swore. "Snowflake, congrats. You won!" Talutah yelled from the sidelines. Natasha was still trying to find out where Tony was hiding when he stepped out of the shadows. She walked up to him, looking like she was going to slap him across his mask when she stopped (maybe because the blood she saw) and held out her hand. Tony cautiously took it. 

Nick Fury, along with his lap dog Agent Coulson walked swiftly to the center of the battlefield. "Snowflake, we are going to need you to go on a mission. Agent Barton will go with you." Fury stated immediately, voice allowing no refusal. Tony liked Clint. He was cool. "What do you need me for?" Tony asked. Fury's hard expression softened a bit, now knowing he wasn't going to be refused. "A man, Adam Chester, and three dozen others living in St Petersburg, Florida are possessing multiple drugs. We need you to figure out where they are living and successfully burn the evidence. Killing them would also be in order." More drug gangs? How many did Tony have to kill to prove drugs are bad? "Okay. When do we leave?" He asked. "Now." Clint stalked up to them, nurturing his bow like a newborn child. The man stuck to that thing like a dog with a peanut butter bone. "Okay then. Let me retrieve my weapons and we will be off. Legolas, meet me as close to St. Petersburg as possible, but not in the real city. Too dangerous." With that, Tony dramatically left.

When he got back home, he grabbed his pistol and his katanas. He likes using them, definitely for group slaughterings. He also fetched the same disguise as Liam Robinson. He had just been dropped off in Tampa when he saw Clint in disguise, sipping on a kiwi smoothie (ugh) while reading. His disguise was a tan man in his fifties, with thinning hair, stubble, and a crease in his forehead. Every other tourist. Tony plopped down next the man, which sparked a reaction. "Jesus man, warn someone!" Clint nearly shouted. Tony plucked the smoothie from Clint's grasp and took a sip. "You have horrible taste in beverages." 

"Well, it is mine. Keep your own damn opinions to yourself." Clint grumbled, slurping on the straw. They both stood up and began to walk to the edge of town and call a cab company. As they stood waiting, Clint asked: "What fun toys did you bring?" Fun toys was a code word for weapons. A twenty-something walking by gave them a weird look, probably thinking about sex. No way in hell would Tony ever do it with Clint. "Katanas." Clint's eyes went wide in fascination. "Wicked. Only see them in the movies." Eventually, the cab came. Right before it did, Clint and Tony had gone into one of the rare alleys to put on disguises. Tony now had lighter brown hair and vibrant blue eyes. A birthmark on his forehead. Clint looked older, with salt and pepper hair and a 'limp'. "I'm gonna kill you later," Clint grumbled when he saw how he looked through the car window.

The drive was long and Tony didn't appreciate the gentle waters as much as Clint. He never really liked water, probably because he was part cat. The cab was cool, but outside was hot and sticky. It was absolutely the worst weather for Tony, as he was a snow leopard. Snow. Cold. High altitudes. Not humid air and scorching heat. This would take a toll on him. They finally reached St Petersburg. Clint paid and they left. They started to walk to their motel room, which they found out was in the heart of the town. The room had a minuscule bathroom, complete with shitty shower curtains and crusty sinks that shouldn't even work, and an armoire filled with shells. Weird. The two beds were small with sandy sheets and putrid yellow blankets, which were thin. The pillows were rocks and the fridge a boiler. 

"When are we going out?" Tony asked, shifting his weight uneasily. "In about an hour. The sun doesn't set for a while. We should prepare or play twenty questions." Tony immediately chose the latter. Clint shook his head, smiling. "Alright, favorite color?" 

iiiiiii

An hour and a half later, the sun was down and the city was asleep. The lights were still on, but since the tourists weren't allowed in the ocean, there were only a few clubs open, playing shitty music that you could hear from blocks away. Tony's hands were itching for his katanas, to kill. Clint was going one way to the hideout, which was on 16th avenue, while Tony was going the other.

The house looked shady from the outside. Parked on the crumbling pavement were three crappy cars (green, tan, and silver). The burnt grass hadn't been cut in months. Tony quickly ran across the itchy grass and silently opened the door, making sure that it wouldn't creak. He slipped into the grungy house. Tony could hear music downstairs and smoke was emerging from the cracks of the basement door. Clint entered after him, positioned upstairs so he could shoot any escapees. Tony opened the door and got down into the basement, katanas at hand.

The sight was shocking. A man was flirting with a girl who was wearing very few clothes, and it looked like she would lose her bra if the guy got what he wanted. Probably a prostitute. Most were smoking a mixture of crystal meth and heroin, deadly if inhaled too often. Adam Chester was in the middle of it, counting out his cash while he had an orange girl on his lap. Tony began with a smile and ended with a laugh. All two and a half-dozen (some managed to escape upstairs), including Adam were dead. Tony did his usual routine then went upstairs. He dropped his katanas in shock.

Clint was gone and pinned to his bow was a piece of paper sponsored by a real estate agent, the thread snapped in half. 'IF YOU WANT YOUR LITTLE ARCHER, MEET US ON 19th STREET ON TUESDAY. BRING US OUR MONEY.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the brutal ending and cliffhanger of this chapter. Dunno when the next one will come out.


	7. The Truth

"What do you mean they captured Clint?" Natasha asked, her hands clenching the black desk tightly. Her face was stoic, but Tony knew she was very concerned and upset. The rest of his audience consisted of a pissed Fury, an annoying Coulson, a fidgety Talutah and a new recruit, Maria Hill who Tony didn't like too much. "I mean they captured Clint. I'm tracking them now, but surprisingly for some drug addicts, they are really good at covering their tracks." Tony sighed. He never wanted this to occur. "Maybe you should just go on Tuesday," Coulson suggests. "That's idiotic. They'll set up traps. One of them was a weapons designer for SI before the CEO fired him."

"Then what do you suggest doing?" Coulson asked. As if on cue, Tony's self-made phone made the familiar caw of Talutah. "Why do you have me as your alert?" Talutah asked. "Why do I not? Besides, I'd rather that then you shouting for more raspberries." His friend and mentor grinned unabashed and Tony checked his phone. His face paled. "Shit."

"What is it?" Natasha demanded. "I have their site." Tony mentally gulped at the feed he was watching. "So? Isn't that good?" Tony nearly shuddered. "Not good if you have a live feed of what they're doing." He passed the phone over to Natasha, who could only stand a second of it before throwing it on the table in anger and disgust. Yeah, getting a toenail pried off wasn't exactly the best thing to watch. At that point, Tony had to leave. "I've got to go. I have business at my place, but I promise you that I will get Clint Barton back to you."

He immediately left the office, Talutah behind him. He needed plans to get Clint back. He got into the small plane he named 'War Pig' after the Black Sabbath song. "What are your plans, my leopard?" Talutah asked him as he buckled himself up. "Well, I'm going there now. You wanna kick some ass?" Talutah nodded, smirking slightly. "Of course."

He got Clint Barton back to them that day, three hours later and his katanas almost stained. Clint had five torn toenails, a broken arm, and a cut on his head, but he was very much alive. Natasha thanked him over and over, but Tony just gave them a nod and leave.

iiiiiii

In June, Tony had gotten a front row seat to Marco's and Elsa's ceremony. Of course, they didn't know that because he was wearing his overlapped red mask. He was full of nerves as if he was going through his own ceremony. Talutah would be leading the two in, and after the ceremony, Tony would train the two until their masking. Talutah would stay to teach Hansh and Riya. 

The doors opened and two nervous looking ten-year-olds came into the room. They stayed in the shadows. "Bo!" An assassin yelled and Marco made his way nervously up to the front. Tony never learning Marco's true name, as it wouldn't have come into handy until he became masked. He really didn't know why Talutah had asked him when he was four. The Alpha stared down at Marco, and the boy shifted for the first time. He got smaller, his body forming a long spine, his olive skin growing darker and forming scales. Tony was right. A black mamba, same as Libitina. "It has been a while since we've had a male mamba." The Alpha mused. "Come here two weeks after your 15th birthday." Marco shifted back and stumbled to the sidelines. Tony felt impressed and proud for Marco. Fifteen was pretty young and Marco would be killing people without help by the time he was sixteen.

"Leola!" Elsa strode up to the front with respect and confidence. She slowly but surely shifted into an African wild dog. "Three months and sixteen days before your seventeenth birthday." The Alpha rumbled. This was the regular age. Elsa did well.

As soon as the ceremony was over, Tony rushed outside to congratulate the two but came in at a bad time. "Why is it always you? You're the best fighter, you're Aeron's favorite, you're the smartest. You don't understand what it's like to lose!" Elsa was shouting at Marco. Tony wanted to step in, but he needed to see how Marco would react. "It's not my fault, Elsa. I just do the best I can." He reasoned, but Elsa scoffed. "Yeah, yeah. Excuses, Mark, excuses!" Marco's eyes flared with anger. "Well, maybe you aren't trying hard enough." 

"That is enough!" Tony decided to intervene. "You two have just shifted and you're bickering like children. At least be glad that you will become members. Some people never are. If you are going to continue, then you might as well forget about me training you. It takes dedication, and children do not have dedication." Both looked down. "Now, Elsa, don't take this out on Marco. He did nothing wrong. Marco, don't doubt Elsa's abilities. I want both of you in the training room at 5 am. Expect a lot of laps." Tony walked off. He needed to find someone.

That morning, he had ordered his two students 32 laps around the gym and then 13 pull ups on the bar with one arm. After that, he had them spar with their bare fists for half an hour. By that time, they were slightly panting. Elsa's hair had fallen out of its ponytail and Marco's was sleek with sweat. Next, Tony put them through a simulator where they had to dodge bullets and knives. When they were finally done, Tony smirked at them as they lay on the ground. "No more fighting." He said firmly. "If you fight each other instead of fighting others how can we send you out on the field?" He sent them off for the day, not even wanting to look at them. Tony felt a headache coming in. Kids.

"You did a number on them, my leopard." Tony turned to see Talutah standing in the doorway, a granny smith apple in hand. He tossed it up and caught it in a practiced, fluid motion before striding over to where Tony stood. "They looked as exhausted as you were after the swimming across that pond." Tony raised an eyebrow. "That pond was the width of Lake Ontario and I was nine. Plus, cats aren't big on water."

They stood in comfortable silence (sans the chomping of the poor apple) when Tony decided to ask the question that had burning inside his head since he could remember. "Why did you kill my parents. What did they do?" Talutah nearly choked on his apple. He cleared his throat and began to speak. "Your father was intending on sending missiles to attack Sokovia. If he was still alive, Sokovia would be gone." Tony could barely think. His father, Howard Stark, the same man who had made Captain America, was planning on wiping out an entire country. Well, he was behind the attack on Hiroshima, but that was just a city. A nation? That's a little too far. Tony's killed people for less. "Your mother had smuggled money away from other companies for herself and was planning to kill Steve Jobs in his sleep so Howard would have no competition if he ever turned to tech. It would have been chaotic if they lived. We were planning on killing you as well, but that... gleam in your eye. It just showed the gleam I've seen in others. I knew you were one of us so I had to ask your name to make sure. I'm happy I did because if not, who knows who you'd be." 

Tony felt... rage. How dare his parents (those people) try to do that to the world. He wanted to punch something, so he did. He staggered over to the punching bag and managed to hit it so hard that it broke in two. He gasped over the broken bag, chest heaving with anger. "Why would they do that?" He managed to whisper. A tear had wiggled out of his perfect façade, cracking it in a way that scared him. He had only cried twice since he was four. One of those times was when he broke his arm a week after he came to the 'den'. The other was when he saw a man kill an innocent child right in front of him when he was 12. The man got what he deserved.

"They were mad for power. It happens to people like them. They're on the top and they want to stay up there, even if it means killing and razing." Talutah's voice was soft, considerably different from its usual teasing tone. Tony turned to him. "Please let me process this information." Talutah nodded and left. That's when Tony let himself loose. Jumping inhumanly towards the bar, he swung up and twirled around it fiercely, letting his body take over. He could barely process the rampage he was on, going from the bar to the bag to the knives, throwing them with force and accuracy. 

He didn't know how long he stayed in there, but he knew that one person came in midway to watch. Filled to the brim with hatred wasn't good for him and he needed to release it, so he didn't ask the person to leave in slight fear he would scare or insult someone. Letting his feline side take over, he bounded to the targets, taking them down with strength unknown by many. After hours and hours, he let himself relax. He turned to the figure standing by the weights. "Talutah told me you'd be in here, Aeron. I had not thought you would be this... affected." Tony bowed down to the Alpha. "It angers me that my former blood would ever think about that," Tony spoke the truth, looking the Alpha right in the eyes. "Aeron, you were of age a month ago. You know what that means." Tony knew and he wished he didn't. "Can't I take over later? Potts is doing a good job and she can still remain to do those plans for another decade." Alpha simply stared at him. "I can extend it another year but that's it. You'll have to take over SI then. Now, I have a big task for you..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger for you all and sorry it's below 2000 words. Thanks for the kudos and bookmarks! Comment who you think Tony should end up with. I'm thinking either Pepper Potts, Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, or Clint Barton. I'll see what everyone else thinks.


	8. A/N to shake the world

Hello. I'm a shitty person for doing this to you guys. I left the story (and my account) and just ghosted you. Sorry, not sorry.

I have not been writing much (besides a nine-part HP story that will only belong to me, haha) and I suppose that was bad of me. Oops.

I have been doing some planning, though. Look at the list below.

1\. I am rewriting this story. This will all be taken down once I get the first chapter ready (who knows when that happens). DO NOT worry, though, because it is still the same. I am adding a character in and changing a few of their names, but Marco and Talutah are still in. I actually didn't know but Talutah is actually a girls name. I kinda feel stupid now. The name will change. Some major plot points will not change but I feel like the writing was a little babyish.

2\. I'll give you a little hint. The pairing will eventually be Tony/ HAH. NOT TELLING. Here are the results. Figure it out yourselves! As for the pairing, please comment once and for ALL which one you would prefer, Bucky or Clint.

Pepper: 2 votes

Bucky: 8 votes

Steve: 1 vote (aww)

Clint: 7 votes

Well, until next time...

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Next one should be up soon! I'm going to put it up on Fanfiction.net as well. Have a nice day!


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